Teresa, Warrior In Training
by ThaliaGrace318
Summary: Teresa, a young warrior-in-training, had heard the old stories of people who escaped the Great Burning 100 years ago by going to the stars, but had never given those stories much thought...Until now. What will happen now that the Sky People have returned, and she is sent with her brother Lincoln to keep watch on the strangers?
1. They're Back

Teresa, Warrior In Training

1.

Teresa crept forward on silent feet, keeping her eyes trained on her prey grazing peacefully in the clearing ahead. Her leather boots absorbed any sound she might have made. A fur lined hood held back her curly brown hair, and the ash covering her hands and face disguised her scent and made her brown skin even darker.

Blind in the third eye on the side of its head, the deer would be an easy kill as she approached on its blind side from downwind, stepping lightly with an arrow fitted to her bow. Its soft brown coat was ruffled by the breeze as it chewed contentedly on the dew covered grass, blissfully unaware of her presence and its approaching death. She had been lucky to spot the deer's tracks and had been tracking it for miles. Bringing it down would be good for the village – there had been fewer than was usual this season. Once she killed it she may need help to bring it in, but her brother's home away from the village was near enough. He would help her, and not take credit for the kill himself as other hunters older than her might do.

Confident in her position the young hunter took aim, drawing back her bowstring. She could make it a clean shot; put her arrow through its eye. If that did not kill it then she would finish it with her knife and end its pain quickly. As she was about to let her arrow fly, a roar like thunder filled the air, a sound so loud that it felt like a real physical presence pressing down on her from above. Her arrow flew off course passed the deer which took off at a gallop from the unexpected disturbance. She watched it disappear and then looked up to see that the top branches of the trees shook, and beyond that something falling from the sky. Something...she didn't know what.

Teresa pulled back her hood and raised her mask while staring up at the sky, wondering if her eyes were playing tricks on her. She had seen shooting stars before, but this was something else. Forgetting her annoyance at losing her kill, she quickly slung her bow over her shoulder and climbed up the nearest tree for a better view. Perched with well-practiced balance on one of the slender branches near the tree top, but still under the cover of the canopy, she stared up in shock as the thing came down. Whatever it was it was big, covered in red and orange flames and was coming down fast! More flames erupted from the bottom of it as it drew nearer and slowed just a few moments before hitting the ground less than half a mile from her, sending a tremor through the forest that she was sure would be felt for miles.

The young warrior kept a firm grip on her perch as the tree shook and swayed from the impact. It felt like an earthquake, but this...this was something far more interesting. Every village in the mountains would have seen this monstrosity falling from the sky. She knew that she should keep her distance, head back to her village to find out what their leader's orders were. After all she was not a scout, at least not yet, but whatever that thing was she wanted to see for herself. Using the trees, moving swiftly from branch to branch, she made her way to where the thing had crashed. She moved more cautiously as she drew near, and the smell of burned wood and something else she couldn't name permeated the air, burning her nose and leaving a bad taste in the back of her throat.

The object had landed in a clearing. The ground around it was scorched, the grass and shrubs burned away, and broken trees lay scattered where they had fallen, smoke curling off of them. The thing that had caused the damage stood not as tall as the highest trees but still imposing in a place where it clearly did not belong. It was large, bulky and made of metal from the look of it, the glint of the sunlight reflected off the surface giving off a harsh glare. It was some kind of machine.

The forest seemed to hold its breath, not yet settled from this intrusion that had come crashing down. There was no sound or movement from the machine. She decided to wait near the edge of the clearing where she could watch and still be out of sight. And she was aware that she was not the only one watching. Glancing to her left she caught a glimpse of a figure moving through the branches of the trees – her brother. She had only seen a glimpse but she knew that it was him, she knew how he moved. That was confirmed when he came closer and silently signaled for her to stay low and keep quiet. Teresa was glad that he didn't try to send her away, and she wasn't surprised that he had come to investigate himself. Her brother _was_ a scout for their tribe. He'd taught her how to move through the trees without stirring a leaf. She put her mask back into place and pulled her hood up. Taking care to make sure that even her breathing was quiet, she waited and watched to see what would happen.

She did not have to wait too long as the metal beast gave a loud groan, and with a hiss part of it unfolded and thudded to the ground, making an opening. Putting a hand to her knife, she took a calming breath to prepare for whatever was coming. She was prepared to fight if she had to; or to run, to warn the tribe if the appearance of this thing was some kind of new threat. But what she saw inside the machine – she didn't know yet if it was a threat...but it was certainly unexpected. She'd heard stories before, about the Great War and people who had escaped the Burning a hundred years ago by going to the stars, but she'd never given stories about sky people much thought...until now.

Because now the young warrior could see that there were people inside the machine, this ship that had fallen from the sky. People who appeared as shocked at what they were seeing as she was. Those that stood in the doorway were staring around with open mouths and expressions that could only be described as wonder, amazement, awe...

One of them, a girl with smooth pale skin and brown hair, broke from the pack and stepped forward. Standing in front of the others, the sky-girl paused to draw in a deep breath, and a smile broke out across her face.

Teresa took her eyes off the girl for a moment to look to her brother. He had his book out and was drawing something in it, his eyes barely going to the page as he watched the strangers.

Looking back at the strange ship, she saw that the sky-girl was walking forward cautiously as her people behind her stood watching. She paused again before taking the last step off of the part of the ship that had opened, onto the ground. Her grin stretched wider as she looked up to the sky. Reaching her arms up the sky-girl screamed out, "We're Back Bitches!"

Her shout cut through the silence. Teresa was surprised to understand the sky-girl's words but didn't have time to think on it as the rest of her people came pouring out of their ship, shouting and running in every direction. They were celebrating, excited, triumphant…loud and arrogant. She smirked as she watched them. What did they think they had won?

One of the strangers ran right beneath her hiding place, going off into the woods while another girl called after her.

"Emily, wait!"

The girl kept running, ignoring her friend; her smooth black hair trailed behind her as she ran. The other girl stopped, close enough for the warrior to hear her speaking with a dark skinned boy who came up. If she hadn't been sure, she was now – the strangers were speaking English. She knew English well enough, though she'd rarely had reason to speak it herself. The boy told his friend to stay there while he went to bring back the girl who had run off.

Teresa tried to get a count on how many sky people had come out of the ship but they were scattered now, spreading out, still shouting and chattering excitedly. They were in territory that was not theirs and yet they were behaving like untried children! These people clearly knew nothing. They made no effort to watch for possible dangers. Their noise would scare off any prey in the area, and they would be lucky not to attract predators, or worse.

Where did these strangers come from? Why had they come here? If they expected to take tribe territory, then they had made a grave mistake. The leader of their village certainly wouldn't allow it. Word would most likely be sent to the Commander as soon as scouts returned to the village with a report. The sky people wore strange clothes, and none of them stood out as warriors; they acted like children now, but if they were a danger to the tribe then they would be dealt with like any other, she was sure of it.

Seeing movement out of the corner of her eye, she looked to her brother again and saw that he was signaling for them to leave. She knew he was right. They did not want to make their presence known to these invaders and they should retreat further while the strangers were too distracted by their excitement to notice any movement in the trees, not that they were looking. But still, she wanted to stay and watch, to see what she could learn. She was not a scout yet, but she would be soon. Perhaps this would be her chance. She hoped so – people who fell from the sky, this was unlike anything they'd seen before. However she pulled herself away, climbing higher to be less visible in the shadow of the canopy and moving away from the strange ship and the invaders it carried.


	2. Who Are They?

2.

Teresa came down from the trees only when the Sky People and their crashed ship were far behind her. She had not been seen, nor had she left any trace, though she knew that her brother had been monitoring her movements for the first few miles after they left the strangers to make sure of it. Now Lincoln was already on the ground walking ahead of her. He looked back at her as she caught up with him and pushed back her hood. They kept moving together towards their village, Tondc.

"What do you think this means Lincoln?" she asked her brother excitedly, speaking Gonasleng as the strangers had. "Why did those people come here? Who are they?"

Lincoln was used to his younger sister's rapid questions and waited until she was finished before answering, "I don't know, but we will find out."

He meant that scouts, like him, would be sent to find out. Teresa was a warrior, still in training yes, but she wanted to be a scout as well, like her brother. If for no other reason than that scouts were allowed to go places that were usually forbidden, to see their enemies up close, and were highly valued for the information that they could gather.

The sun was almost at its highest as they drew near to the village gate and they were joined by another scout, Tomac. One look told them that he'd seen the ship too, and the Sky People. They did not stop to speak as they hurried on their way to bring the news home. Coming into the village, Teresa saw that many people had abandoned their usual tasks, no doubt having seen the ship fall from the sky and were waiting for answers. They had barely set foot through the gate before they were swarmed by villagers, some worried or anxious, asking what they had seen out in the woods. Within the village they all spoke Trigedasleng, the language of the tribe.

"Don't you all have better things to do?" A deep voice rose above the excited and anxious questioning as Nyko, one of their healers, cut a path through the crowd. He sent people back to their own tasks before speaking to the two scouts. Nyko didn't bother with questions; he would hear what was to be said soon enough. "Anya wants news, best not to keep her waiting."

Teresa looked to the village's meeting hall where their leader, Anya, was speaking with Indra, her second in command. Their conversation seemed intense but when she saw that two of their best scouts had returned, Anya cut off whatever Indra was saying. She nodded to them and proceeded into the hall with her young apprentice Tris in toe. Indra shot a look at them before following Anya into the hall.

"Indra does not look happy," Teresa commented.

"Does she ever?" said Lincoln.

Lincoln and Tomac went on ahead to the meeting place to report what they had seen. Teresa moved to follow, but found her path blocked by Nyko. "No, Teresa."

"But I saw that thing too," she protested. "It was some kind of ship."

"Mind your place," Nyko said sharply. He ruffled her hair to soften his words and Teresa laughed. "Did you find what I asked of you?"

"Yes _fisa_."

Suddenly remembering why she had gone out this morning before first light, Teresa reached into her bag and pulled out the bundles of herbs she had collected before finding the deer's tracks. She handed them to Nyko, who seemed pleased. Teresa smiled, she liked helping Nyko; later he would show her how to cut the herbs that she'd gathered and mix them into medicines that could be used to save a life, or poisons that could take life. But that was for later.

As Teresa walked towards her hut someone fell into a familiar step beside her.

"You left before I woke. Where'd you go?" asked Benjamin.

"I was doing a favour for Nyko," she explained.

The other young warriors would have had training from early morning to high noon, but Teresa was occasionally pardoned from training to assist or learn from Nyko. As a _fisa_, a healer, his word carried weight, and he had told her before that she had the potential to be a healer herself, if she could ever stay in one place long enough to learn anything.

"Too bad," Benjamin continued. "Artigas was saying that he would beat you in practice for sure today."

"Not likely!" Teresa objected.

Benjamin laughed softly at her competitive outburst and looked at Teresa with eyes identical to hers, the same dark brown that was common to their family – Lincoln had those eyes as well. Right now, despite the very strange occurrence today, Benjamin's eyes were soft with a hint of mischief, while Teresa's were sharp, looking for a challenge.

They stepped into the hut that they shared. It was a small structure made from wood and sheets of salvaged metal with windows cut into the back wall that let the light spill in and made the place seem roomier. There was a table beneath one of the windows with a bowl of clear water resting on it, a few shelves nailed into a wall, and three cots. Two of the cots were covered in soft fur blankets. One was conspicuously bare.

Teresa set her bag down next to the cot that was hers and pulled off her hooded jacket, letting her dark braided hair fall loose. Under her jacket she wore a wide necked netted shirt over a gray tank top that clung to her slender frame. The black tattoos on her arms stood out against her light brown skin. She moved over to the table by the window, pulled off her wrist- and finger-guards that every archer wore and set them on the table before washing her hands in the bowl. She scooped up water to wash her face, cleaning off the ash that she had used to hide her scent while she hunted.

"Catch anything while you were doing that 'favour'?" Benjamin asked.

"No."

She ignored his slightly sarcastic tone. It was true; she'd started out this morning doing a favour for Nyko…she just got sidetracked along the way. And then a metal ship came falling out of the sky. She was still trying to wrap her mind around it.

But what Benjamin was hinting at was that she'd been doing this more and more lately, finding reasons to go out alone, without their friends. Without him, even though he was the better tracker – If he had been with her this morning they probably would have found the deer _before_ that ship came crashing down scaring off all the game.

The brother and sister were very different, always had been, always would be. But despite their differences, Benjamin was her other half – they had been born together. They had grown together, played together, trained together and fought together. Teresa turned to face him but her eyes landed on the empty cot pushed up against the wall. After their older sisters had left, they always said that they would live or die together, that they wouldn't leave each other.

Benjamin knew her though. Teresa was restless, and sometimes she just needed to be on her own. He needed no apology for that. As they left the hut Teresa wondered why Benjamin had not asked about the strange ship that everyone else was so anxious to know about.

XX

Now she knew why Benjamin hadn't brought it up.

She'd missed morning training, but her friends Tara and Artigas were still taking practice shots when Teresa and Benjamin joined them. While Benjamin preferred a knife, the bow was Teresa's best weapon. A good weapon is the difference between life and death, whether in hunting or in battle, and so all young warriors were taught very early on to care for their weapons. She took special care of her bow, her prized possession, oiling it in the evenings to keep the wood supple and strong. Her eldest sister had helped her make it before she left the tribe years ago. She had taken the time to help Teresa carve and shape the wood for the best effect so that it was both flexible and durable.

As they walked up, she did not even have the chance to greet her friends before they bombarded her with questions.

"Teri, you saw that thing?" asked Tara.

"What was it? We felt it hit from here," asked Artigas.

"It was some kind of metal ship," she said. "There were people inside of it."

"What!" Artigas exclaimed, "People from the sky?"

"How many?" Tara asked.

"I'm not sure; about a units worth, maybe less." A unit of warriors could be one hundred to one hundred and fifty. "But they didn't look like warriors," Teresa added remembering the indiscipline of the strangers. "They acted like children."

"And what are you?"

They turned to see Lincoln standing at the edge of the training area. Lincoln nodded to them and gestured for Teresa to follow him.

"Just Teri," he said when Benjamin moved to follow him as well.

Benjamin shrugged and turned back to his sister. "You are his favorite," he teased.

"That's only because Senshi is not here," she said thinking how close Lincoln and their sister Senshi had been before she left to join the rangers.

She caught up with Lincoln who was already walking away from the training area and going towards the center of the village.

"What did they say?" she asked. "Did Anya and Indra decide anything? What are they doing about the sky people?"

"Anya is sending her fastest rider to inform The Commander of what we saw," Lincoln replied. "And she wants more information on the strangers as soon as possible."

"What if they are a danger to us?" Teri asked. "What if they came to take our land?"

Teresa remembered years back when raiders from across the desert known as the Dead Zone had come to the mountains looking for land that they could claim. They had raided several villages at the edge of the tribe's territory, killing the innocent and stealing whatever they could before warriors were sent in force to stop them. By the end of it the invaders had been nearly wiped out. Those that survived and were not captured had scrambled back to their desert. That had been her first real battle with outsiders. She'd fought beside her eldest sister Michonne in that battle, while Benjamin had fought beside Lincoln. The twins had both earned their first marks, the small scars burned into her shoulder blade that marked kills made in combat.

She felt a phantom itch from those scars now as she remembered, though the actual pain was years past. Teresa had been very young, but had not cried out as the hot metal sizzling against her skin and sharp, hot pain shot through her when the marks were made. Instead she'd gritted her teeth and endured it in silence as they'd been trained to. It was the price they paid for taking life, even the life of an enemy. If death has no cost, then life has no worth. That is the way her people live. And a warrior's marks were worn with pride – they showed that she had fought and killed to protect her people.

"We don't know yet what these strangers are." Lincoln's voice pulled her back from her memories. "For now we're not to have any contact with them. We're to keep watch and learn what we can."

"Good luck," Teri said wistfully.

"I said _we_." Teresa looked up at him in surprise. "I spoke with Anya," Lincoln said simply. She broke into grin at his next words. "You're coming with me."

Teresa was grateful that her big brother would speak for her, and a little surprised by it too. The decisions that their leaders made were often decided by the information given to them by scouts. It meant he thought she could do this task and do it well. Lincoln could see that she was excited by this, and he knew his little sister very well.

"We're not to be seen by the strangers. Your job it to watch, report back-"

"I can do that," she said eagerly.

"-And do as you're told."

"I can do that…mostly."


	3. Watching

**Author's note:** Sorry it has taken me so long to continue this story. I have been busy with school and exams. I hope you enjoy it and continue to read. Anyone who has any suggestion on what they would like to see in this story, please leave a comment.

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3.

Teresa lay stretched out flat against a branch overlooking the Sky-People's camp. It was a cloudy night, which provided good cover. Moving quickly she had gotten back to the spot where their ship had crashed just after dark, and now she watched as they gathered around a bonfire. She'd seen them struggling to light the fire - a task that would have taken minutes for her, had taken over an hour for them - and they seemed so pleased with themselves when they finally got it lit. She'd heard them exclaim in wonder as the fire built up and the red and orange flames rose higher. Some of them, overexcited, kept adding more wood to the fire, until someone had the good sense to stop them before it got out of control.

Had they never seen fire before? Maybe not, if they had no trees for wood. But then how did they stay warm, or cook their food? What did Sky-People have for food? Did they have animals in their homes in the sky - what was the word? - Space Stations? It didn't look like they had brought any food with them. The smell of the wood smoke curled up to the trees, but when the wind wafted towards her, there was no scent of anything cooking on the fire.

A thousand questions had been going through her head all day about these strangers in her land. Most importantly, who were they, who sent them, and why? Why would Sky-People come down here now?

Shouts going up around their bonfire brought her attention back from her musing. Teresa was grateful for her dark clothes that blended with the trees and the shadows as she moved closer through the branches, getting as close to the stranger's camp as she dared.

The Sky-People around the fire were cheering and chanting, "Whatever the hell we want!" She wondered what that was about, when suddenly a flash of lightning lit up the clearing, followed a few seconds later by a loud crash of thunder overhead. Someone screamed. Teresa tensed for a moment, but none of the Sky-People had seen her in the lightning flash. They were too preoccupied with the rain that started to pour from the sky; as the first drops started to fall the Sky-People started shouting.

"What is that?!"

"Rain! It's raining!"

Some sounded afraid; some were amazed. Teresa saw one girl franticly brushing rain drops off her skin like she was afraid they would burn her. Teresa stifled a laugh; it was like they had never seen rain before. She supposed that they hadn't, living above the clouds. Where did they get their water from then, in a place where it never rained?

Teresa pulled her hood up. The rain that reached her through the branches of the trees rolled off the leather of her coat, and the fur lining kept her warm. She peered towards the bonfire again. Most of the Sky-People were jumping around excitedly, lifting their hands to the sky, enjoying the rain.

One of them was walking away from the crowd. A dark skinned boy, tall with short hair. He wasn't celebrating. She followed him with her eyes until he went into their ship, then she settled into place to continue watching.

XX

Later, after the rain had passed and the sky had cleared, Teresa moved through the trees, circling the camp. Now that the Sky-People were asleep, no longer scattered, she could get a better count of how many there were. She'd circled the whole camp without touching the ground, and she'd been right before that there was about a unit's worth of the Sky-People, about 100.

She was considering what that might mean, that there were a unit's worth of them, but that they were clearly not warriors. They lacked restraint and discipline. Teresa smiled, thinking how often her brother might have said the same thing about her. Most of them were around the same age as her – even if they were to be warrior, they would only be Seconds, apprentices. Though she doubted that they were even that.

_Disha kru nou ste gona_, Teresa thought.

Why would their people send them here alone? For what purpose? Would more of them be coming?

Hearing footsteps approaching, loud heavy footfalls that could never belong to any Trikru, Teresa pulled back into the shadows. Two Skaikru passed beneath her hiding place, a boy and a girl. They must have been out walking. Had she counted them already? Teresa shifted to get a better look, and the branch creaked. She froze, still hidden by shadows.

The sky-girl looked up into the tree, squinting into the dark. The boy looked back at her. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked.

The girl's eyes flickered to him and then back into the boughs of the tree. "I thought I just saw…" she hesitated. Shaking her head she turned away, "Never mind."

"Come on, it's late," the boy said, taking her hand and leading her away.

Teresa sighed. She would need to be more careful. It would not do to be spotted by these strangers. She'd heard many a horror story of what happened to other scouts who'd been caught spying on their enemies. Though it wasn't the Sky-People she feared more. Her leader had ordered that they have no contact with the invaders, for now. Being compromised on her first mission, even if she were not captured by the enemy, would ensure that it was her last.

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Translations:

_Disha kru nou ste gona_ – These people are not warriors

Trikru - Tree Person

Skaikru - Sky Person


	4. Live Bait

**Author's Note: **Sorry it has been so long since my last update. I have been busy with work over the summer. Hope you enjoy the new chapter. I will try to update again soon

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**4.**

"…THE GROUNDERS SHOULD WORRY ABOUT _US_!"

_That one likes to make noise_, Teresa thought as she listened in on the strangers from above. The dark haired man that made that statement and who they were now cheering on seemed to be their leader. Bellamy, they called him – she stored that bit of information away for later.

_I could shoot him from here; that would shut him up,_ she thought with a smirk._ It would shut them all up._ Just as when they'd first landed, her assessment of these Sky-People was that they were loud and arrogant.

Not all of the Sky-People followed the one called Bellamy though, from what Teresa could see. The blonde girl who'd come back into their camp telling them that 'grounders' had taken one of their scouting party was now stalking away from him angrily. No love there. In her village, anyone who spoke with such disrespect to their leader as that girl had would be punished. But nobody stopped her from walking away.

These Skaikru were very different from the Trigedakru. Even the way they spoke – not just the language, but the words. Like 'Grounder'. To Teresa, that word was unfamiliar. She supposed from their point of view the word fit, though she'd never thought of herself like that. Then again, the Sky-People probably didn't think of themselves as 'Sky-People'. Why would they when they'd never had other people to compare themselves to?

Teresa continued to watch the strangers with curiosity. Her coat, hood and mask hid her well in the trees, and she was high enough that she wasn't too worried about being spotted. Something she'd discovered about these people: they didn't know to look up.

All the better for her. It made her job that much easier.

**XX**

Teresa kept pace with the small group of Sky-People who'd left their camp to look for the boy who'd been taken. The strangers from the sky moved noisily through the wood. Heavy footfalls, broken branches, and their constant chatter… Didn't they know to be vigilant in unfamiliar lands? They left a trail that would have been easy for even inexperienced hunters to follow, and left themselves open to attack, whether from enemy warriors or the predators of the forest.

They were being led by the blonde girl who'd challenged their leader earlier, though the leader, Bellamy, was there with her as well.

As they'd moved through the forest looking for their missing friend, Teresa had heard them talking about Mount Weather - that's where they'd been trying to go when their friend was attacked. And it was no wonder that her people had stopped the strangers form crossing the river at the edge of the Mountain. Teresa suppressed a shudder. Just the thought of the clan's dreaded enemies within the Mountain stirred up an unpleasant mix of fear and rage that left a cold pit in her stomach. Mount Weather cast a shadow over all who lived beneath it; nothing but death came from that place. Death…or worse.

If the Sky-People were trying to join the Mountain Men then they were enemies of the Woods Clan, of all the Clans, and a danger to her people.

But…it didn't make sense, not with how surprised they'd seemed to learn that her people were here. If they didn't know about her people, did that mean that they didn't know about the Mountain Men either? Teresa shook her head. She had too many questions about these invaders and not enough answers. And finally given the chance to be a scout, it was her job now to find answers.

Teresa brought her focus back to the strangers she was following. The blonde girl stayed close to a long-haired boy who was examining the trail ahead of them. He at least seemed to know what he was doing as he tracked the warriors who'd taken their lost friend.

"How do we know this is the right way?" one of the other boys asked with an unpleasant scowl on his face. Teresa had heard the leader say his name before, back at their camp: Murphy.

"We don't," Bellamy answered him, "Spacewalker thinks he's a tracker."

_Spacewalker_? Teresa thought, looking to the long haired boy again. It wasn't a name; she wondered what it meant, why the boy was called that. She liked the way it sounded though. _What's a…space walk?_

"It's called cutting sign. Fourth Year Earth Skills; he's good," another boy answered. The blonde girl had called him Wells when she'd come back into their camp that morning. Teresa saw that he was the tall dark-skinned boy that she'd seen walking away from the fire last night after the rain. Unlike the other Sky-People who'd celebrated the rain, he'd looked upset then. And he looked upset now as he watched the tracker – the one they called Spacewalker – show the blonde girl where the trail led. Wells looked even more upset when Bellamy stepped closer and said something to him that Teresa couldn't hear.

Suddenly, the sky-people all came to attention as a loud groan sounded through the trees. They moved ahead to investigate the sound. Teresa followed at a safe distance, keeping a cover of trees between her and them. She hung back as they came to a clearing half-filled with tall grass with groups of spikes jutting out of the ground.

Teresa heard the blonde sky-girl gasp as she saw what was tied up in the tree in the middle of the clearing. "Oh my God! Jasper!"

"What the hell is this?" Bellamy asked as they moved forward towards their friend.

Teresa knew what it was, and she rolled her eyes at their recklessness in moving forward without taking more care. The missing sky-boy, Jasper, had been set out as bait in a trap. Recognizing the set-up, Teresa quickly found a sturdy tree to climb. She did not want to be close to the ground if the real target for this trap was near.

As she climbed she heard shouts from the sky-people as one of them slid into the pit trap that had been dug and well hidden beneath the tree where the injured boy was tied.

"Clarke!" So that was the girl's name; good to finally know. "Pull her up! Get her up!"

Teresa peered out through the branches of the tree in time to see them pull the blonde girl, Clarke, out of the trap. She was lucky; if they hadn't caught her she would have been impaled on the spikes at the bottom of the pit. Once the girl was back on solid ground, they turned their attention to getting their friend out of the tree. Two of them climbed up to cut him down while the others waited below.

"There's a poultice on his wound," said Clarke.

"Medicine?" said Wells, "Why would they save his life just to string him up as live bait?"

Teresa tried to look more closely at the boy called Jasper. She was could not see his face clearly, but she could see the wound in his chest. It looked close to his heart; it was a wonder he'd survived. Teresa could also see the green paste that covered his wound. Nyko had taught her how to make such poultices that helped to clean a wound and stave off infection. As a healer, she felt a pang of sympathy for the boy.

The Sky-People were still talking.

"Maybe what they're trying to catch likes its dinner to be breathing."

"Maybe what they're trying to catch is us."

The trap hadn't been set for Sky-People though. Teresa knew that it had been set for the panther that had been hunting nearer and nearer to the village in the last few months. Two days ago, it had taken a young child who'd wondered away from his mother when they were out by the stream. The sky-boy, since he'd survived the spear to the chest, was just convenient bait since the panther had developed a taste for human meat.

Speaking of the panther…A chill went up Teresa's spine as a low growl vibrated through the nearby trees. What happened next happened fast.

There was a roar as the panther charged; a shout ("Bellamy gun!") and then gunshots being fired.

Teresa recoiled as the shots rang out, but still kept her eyes on the scene beneath her. It wasn't Bellamy shooting, but Wells. He pulled Clarke behind him as he shot at the panther. Teresa saw the panther collapse mid-leap as the last shot echoed through the trees.

She watched, keeping very still and trying to slow her racing heart as the Sky-People retrieved the injured boy, and wrapped up the panther to take it with them. Her heart wasn't racing from the presence of the panther, but from the gunshots that had shattered the stillness of the forest. The panther was a part of these woods, a proud hunter, but guns with their noise and smoke and smell of hot metal had no place here. Nothing good ever came from those who used guns.

Once the sky-people had cleared out, Teresa climbed down from the tree. She moved cautiously into the clearing, to the spot where the Wells had dropped the gun when he was done with it. Teresa knew that the bullets in a gun were what tore through armour and flesh, and that this one had no more bullets. It was useless now, that's why they'd left it. She looked curiously at the foreign weapon but made no move to pick it up, or even get too close. No Trikru ever took up a gun. Teresa and her friends had all heard legend that told if any tree-person picked up a gun, Mount Weather would wipe out their whole village with their bombs. She would not be the one to bring that kind of devastation on Tondc.

_Emo na bilaik Maunon?_ Teresa wondered with uncertainty.

Her mission to keep watch on the strangers suddenly felt more ominous, more urgent. The Sky-People used weapons and technology like the Mountain Men. Would they be the bringers of death as well?

**XXX**

Darkness had fallen over the mountains; the moon and stars cast their light over the forest.

Lincoln crept closer to the Sky-People's camp and perched on a branch of a tree at the edge of the camp where the firelight would not reach him so that he could watch the strangers unseen. Campfires dotted he ground beneath him. Looking down he saw that the Sky-People were spread throughout their camp, talking with each other and enjoying the meal that they'd made of the panther that their search party had returned with.

They were unaware of his presence. Good. As he'd done with other potential enemies of his tribe he was to remain hidden and observe, to learn what he could about these strangers.

Seeing their ship fall from the sky had brought back memories for him. He tried to push it away but the memory was persistent, pressing against his mind, demanding attention. Their ship…He'd seen something like it before, many years ago…

As he observed the camp, Lincoln didn't have to look behind him to know that he was no longer alone in his watch. Teresa crept up behind him, moving as silently as a shadow as he'd taught her, and settled on a branch to his side.

Lincoln knew why his sister wanted to be a scout: she had a drive to learn, to know more, and was never satisfied until the questions she had were answered. He had his concerns about Teresa taking on this mission, or any scouting mission really. She could be impulsive, and it sometimes made her reckless. But he'd also seen the look in her eye when she first saw these strangers; that gleam of curiosity that would not be tempered by anything. He knew that look; it was what prompted him to speak to Anya about sending Teresa on this task with him. It was better that she was where he could keep an eye on her than if she was left to herself and her curiosity got her into trouble – the kind of trouble that he couldn't protect her from this time – and not just her. Her twin brother Benjamin was far less reckless and he knew how to mind his place, but still he would follow Teresa into just about anything.

Beneath his mask, Lincoln smiled for a moment. The twins reminded him of how he and his sister Michonne had been when they were children. She was just a year older than him, and as children, they had been inseparable. Michonne was far away now though; her travels took her beyond the mountain territories.

The twins were not children anymore. Any indiscretion or misstep that they made would not be overlooked. Teresa was smart and skilled – she learned well when she listened – but she lacked patience, discipline…

"Where's my knife?!"

"I didn't touch your knife!"

…and restraint! Lincoln looked over at his sister as she examined the knife she'd taken from one of the strangers, thankfully without being seen. She wasn't wearing her mask, and she looked over at him and grinned. He shook his head. She'd almost been seen by one of the sky-People the night before when she ventured too close, yet still she took chances.

In the camp below them, two boys had started fighting with each other about the missing knife while others cheered them on. These sky-children seemed to be more of a danger to each other than to his people. However, if it turned out that they presented a danger in the tribe's territory, Lincoln knew that his leaders would most likely have them wiped out. But so far, he hadn't seen any reason for that to happen. And truth be told, he hoped that it wouldn't.

For now though, his job was simply to remain hidden, learn what he could, and keep watch on these Sky-People. And on Teresa; she definitely needed someone to keep an eye on her.

* * *

**Translations: **

Skaikru – Sky-People

Trigedakru – People of the Woods Clan

_Emo na bilaik Maunon? – _Will they be like the Mountain Men?


	5. Brotherly Love

**Author's note:** I apologize for the long wait for the new chapter. I hope you enjoy it and please review to let me know if you like it and want more. As it goes more into the story from Teresa's point of view, it will move away from The 100's camp and show what is happening in the grounder villages as events unfold.

* * *

5.

Teresa's boots splashed through the shallow water of a stream as she ran. The sun was high overhead and she was running for her life as the horn sounded through the trees. She didn't know if it was Lincoln blowing the horn or some other scout in the area but it didn't really matter; all that mattered was getting to shelter. The horn meant the fog was coming, and the fog meant death, a very painful death.

She was running hard when she saw it, a glimpse out of the corner of her eyes of the swirling noxious yellow mass creeping through the trees, getting closer. Teresa didn't pause and she didn't look back; her fear gave her speed as she ran. Shelter – her brother's cave home was within reach if she was fast enough… But the fog and its burning poison was almost on her, the first tendrils of it stinging at the exposed skin of her hands and at her eyes, making them water. She ran through the pain.

"Teri!"

Teresa looked ahead half-blind through streaming eyes when she heard Lincoln calling her.

"Lincoln!" she called out to her brother as she ran towards his voice. He was there next to the hidden entrance to his home waiting for her before getting himself to shelter. She practically dived through the opening in the ground that led to his cave and then moved quickly out of the way as Lincoln jumped down after her just before the acid fog swept over the ground he'd just been standing on.

Out of the fog, Teresa's eyes continued to burn and she squeezed them shut, putting her hand against the stone wall to feel her way through the passage. She took two unsteady steps before her brother picked her up as though she was a child and carried her. And though normally she would have objected to him treating her like a child, at the moment she was too afraid and hurt by the burning in her eyes to do anything more than accept her big brother's help.

As Lincoln set her down on some soft furs Teresa tried to rub at the sharp stinging in her eyes but Lincoln caught her hands and held them down.

"Let me see," he said. Teresa opened her eyes slowly, though it hurt more than keeping them closed. Her vision was clouded and she could see only the hazy shape of her brother. "Don't touch them," he warned her as he let go of her hands and moved away.

Teresa closed her eyes again and tried to take even breaths to slow her racing heart and push back the pain. Lincoln returned and Teresa could smell the tang of healing herbs as he set them down in front of her. He helped Teresa wash out her eyes before dripping some medicine from a small bottle into them. He then told her to keep her eyes closed so that they could heal while he tended to her other wounds. Her coat and hood had mostly protected her, but the burns on her hands needed to be treated. The pain in her eyes had distracted her from it, but she felt the burning on her hands intensify as Lincoln rubbed a herb mixture over them. After a minute the pain dulled as the medicine began to sooth the wounds and Lincoln put her hands to soak in a bowl of water. The herbs and warm water would draw the burning poison out of her skin.

This was the first that Teresa had ever been caught out in the open when the warning was sounded. The fog was a horrible way to die. It was an enemy that you could not fight or defend against; you could only run and hide from it, which in a way made it more terrifying than marching into a battle. She'd seen a warrior who was blinded by acid fog once, his eyes too badly burned for the healer's treatments to cure them. Her burns were not nearly that severe; she'd been in the fog less than a minute – but still…the thought scared her.

Teresa carried her own medicines with her, and she knew these simple remedies that Lincoln used as well as her brother did (and a few that Lincoln didn't know, from her lessons with Nyko). It was part of a scout's training; they had to be prepared to fend for themselves away from the village. Teresa could have worked through the pain and treated her wounds herself – she knew she could; Lincoln knew that she could – but she let her brother take care of her. His rough hands were gentle as he treated her and his steady voice soothed her fear. He was always there to take care of her when she needed him…Even when she didn't need him.

**XXXXX**

Looking up through the hole in the high roof of the cave, Teresa could see the hazy swirl of the fog overhead. Half the night was gone and her eyes had mostly cleared (though they still irritated), but the fog hadn't yet. It blanketed the forest above, blocking the moonlight that would have trickled into the cave but thankfully did not drift down through the small opening. The fire that Lincoln had started to warm some food for them was now down to embers that did little to alleviate the oppressive darkness above.

"Watching it won't make it go away faster," Lincoln said from where he was lying on his back on a bed of furs. Teresa smiled – even in sleep he watched out for her. He was right; she shouldn't dwell on things that she couldn't change.

The fog came from Mount Weather. It was sent by the Mountain Men to kill anyone who trespassed too close to that cursed place, turning the very air into a weapon. The fog did not reach as far as Tondc or any of the other villages, but it was one of the reasons that some scouts lived away from their villages. They were placed to watch for danger and sound the warning when it came as Lincoln had done with his fog horn.

She spotted the fog horn where he'd set it down on the table with his other things, including his book. Unable to sleep, Teresa moved to the table and picked up Lincoln's book. She sat and looked through it by the light of the dying fire. Her brother had made drawings of landmarks, people, animals or anything else that caught his interest for a moment. There was a picture of the statue near their village, a place that was used to settle disputes; a great tree that had a boat stuck high up in its branches – that tree was on the other side of the lake; there were also sketches of Mountain Men in their strange masks shrouded in smoke, and (Teresa shuddered at these) Reapers.

There were also drawings he'd made while they watched the Sky-People. He'd drawn an outline of the camp they'd started building around their ship, and made a tally of how many of them there were. One hundred and one marks on the page, with two of them crossed out for the two that they'd buried.

Teresa had her own book with her sketches of the thing and people she'd seen while watching the strangers' camp; sketches of the ones she'd seen on their scouting trips. Teresa listened in on the sky-people when she could get close enough to hear without being seen. The Sky-People talked about their home in the sky, a place they called the Ark. Once she'd heard one of them mention different stations that made the Ark. Were the different Stations like different Clans?

She'd learned that the boy Wells, his father was the leader on their Ark. The Commander was the leader of the Woods Clan; the Ice Nation had their Queen; but the leader of the Sky-People was someone called 'Chancellor'. That word was unfamiliar. She wondered why Wells was not a leader. He looked like he could be. But it also looked like many of the others didn't like him much.

The bossy girl, Clarke, she was a healer – they called her a doctor. She'd been caring for the injured boy, Jasper, inside their ship.

The one they called 'Spacewalker', his name was Finn. Teresa had heard another sky-person call his name as he left their camp. He liked to explore at night, which was very stupid of him, especially since she never saw him with a weapon.

Unlike the girl called Emily; she liked to explore too, but she always had a sword with her. Teresa had seen her training with some of the others in their camp. The way she fought, Teresa would guess that she was one of their warriors, though her fighting style was very different from what Teresa had been taught.

Then there was also Bellamy, the one who'd made himself their leader. And the girl called Octavia who was his sister. Teresa had overheard other Sky-People talking about them. From the way they talked it sounded like having a brother or sister was a bad thing. They'd used words like 'illegal' and 'unregistered' when talking about Octavia. Teresa didn't know exactly what it meant, but she thought they were probably lucky Bellamy did not hear them. He seemed very protective of his sister – a lot like Lincoln was with Teresa actually. Teresa had two brothers (one of them her twin) and two sisters. She wondered what the Sky-People would think of that.

Another page in Lincoln's book showed a sketch of that girl, Octavia. She'd been the first one to step out of their ship, before all the others. Lincoln must have drawn her then, when they first saw the strangers land.

"Why'd you draw this?" she asked. The book was suddenly snatched out of her hands.

"You should learn not to take things that aren't yours," said Lincoln, sounding annoyed. "You should get some sleep."

Teresa rolled her eyes but didn't argue. When she and Benjamin were younger, they used to play at hiding things for their older siblings to find. Lincoln had never liked that game; he said that it would get her into trouble if she wasn't careful.

Though Lincoln tried to teach her to exercise caution, Teresa's curiosity often won out. The Sky-People were definitely something to be curious about. These strangers held stories about a place she never imagined existed outside of old stories about the forsakers who left the Earth generations ago when the Great Burning happened and the world was swept with fire. Some legends told that the Great Burning happened after a long time of war, a war that had covered the whole world, and that the Burning was to cleanse the Earth of the weak so that the strong could survive.

Teresa didn't know how much of the legends were true, or if she believed them. She'd never given them much thought. Old stories didn't interest her; she liked learning about things that were real, here and now.

She always liked to learn new things. When her sister Michonne came back from her travels, Teresa would always bombard her with question about where she'd been and what she'd seen. Michonne never stayed in their mountains long, but she would always satisfy her sister's curiosity, telling her tales about other Clans or nomads that she'd met, forests that were different from theirs, more jungle than wood, or some of the islands across the sea. And she brought things back with her from these places, gifts for her brothers and sisters.

Then Michonne would leave again. Their other sister Senshi disapproved of Michonne's wondering; Senshi thought that she should stay where she belonged, in her own Clan. The problem was Michonne did not feel she belonged in the Woods Clan – and she had her reasons. Teresa missed her every time she left. But she knew that her eldest sister would be back. Michonne did not settle anywhere; she always came back…at least for a while.

Teresa wondered where Michonne was now. The next time her sister came back, Teresa would be the one with a new story to tell. Strangers from the sky…that was something Michonne had never seen.

**XXXXX**

Lincoln looked over Teresa as she slept. She slept peacefully now, despite her close encounter with the fog. She was lucky not to be seriously hurt; lucky she hadn't been killed. If she'd hesitated when she heard the horn, or hadn't been fast enough, or been unable to run through the pain when the fog started burning her…

Lincoln shook off these thoughts. She was here and she was safe…for the moment anyway. The life of a warrior was never truly safe. It was a harsh reality that they all had to face. Teresa was resilient. She trained hard and, despite her tendency to distraction, she learned diligently. Lincoln knew that Teresa still had a lot of growing up to do. But at the same time, he wished that his youngest sister would not have to grow up so quickly.

As the eldest, Michonne had been hard pressed by their father to never show weakness in anything which meant that she'd never had the luxury of indulging in childhood games. Senshi had been chosen to be one of the Rangers, a unit of warriors chosen from different villages who operated under The Commander's direct orders. She was one of the youngest of their ranks, but she'd earned her place there.

The twins, though they'd been in battle and had to spill blood before, they had a light inside of them that had already been bled out of their older siblings by the lives they'd lived. There was innocence in them that Lincoln wished he could shelter. But he could not shelter them – maybe when they were children, but not anymore. Teresa and Benjamin had to grow strong to survive the world they lived in. That was the way of their tribe.

Lincoln pulled a blanket over her and smiled slightly as she sighed in her sleep and curled up under the cover. She was still so small. To his eyes, she was still a child – the little girl who talked a mile a minute and asked incessant questions and was too curious for her own good – and though it wouldn't do her any favours for him to treat her like a child, she would always be his little sister.

It was his job to watch out for her; And to teach her to watch out for herself.


	6. Life's Blood

**6.**

Teresa didn't like that the Sky-People had been hunting so close to her brother's home, but she wasn't overly concerned about it either. The entrance to Lincoln's cave was so well hidden that even _Trikru_ might walk past it without realizing that it was there, if they didn't already know about it.

Now, looking down at the sky-boy, one of their hunting party who'd been caught out in the acid fog, she felt no animosity towards this stranger – only pity. He must have lain there all night as it burned him, as it seared every inch of his skin, yet somehow he was still alive. That he still lived showed his strength, a warrior's strength, but sadly that strength was wasted and had only caused him more pain – there was no way to save him. It would have been better if he'd died in the night, even if that meant he died alone. Every inch of the boy's skin was coloured an angry red, burned and blistered. His eyes were clouded with white film, blinded by the fog. The fog truly was a terrible way to die, made all the more terrible by the fact that the boy had survived it. That just made his death all the slower in coming, needlessly drawing out his agony.

As Teresa crouched down close to him, he turned his head towards her – that small move made his face contort in an agonized grimace. He couldn't see her, but he knew that someone was there. Whether it was another Sky-Person of one of the people he called 'grounders' mattered little to him now.

"Please…" he managed to gasp out in a strangled whisper. His chest moved spastically with his ragged labourious breathing. He could scarcely draw the breath to speak. But Teresa knew what he was asking for: an end to his pain.

When Teresa had first started learning from Nyko in the healer's hut, one of the first things he'd taught her was a very hard, but very important lesson: that no healer could save everyone – they saved those who could be saved.

And those who could not be saved…

_"__Yu gonplie ste odon,"_ Teresa whispered softly as she pulled out a small knife.

A sudden scream stilled her hand; she looked up to a nearby rise to see a young sky-girl, younger than Teresa, looking down at her. It would have been hard to say what scared the girl more: Teresa in her dark leather and her mask, or the sight of the dying boy with his skin all but melted. Teresa didn't bother to find out. Where there was one sky-person, there would likely be others. She ran and disappeared into the trees, just as she heard the others coming, drawn by the girl's screams.

"Atom!" It was one of their leaders, Bellamy. He ran to the sky-boy who was burned by the fog and knelt down next to him.

"There was a grounder," the young girl told him.

They all looked to the trees in the direction that the young girl pointed – but they were looking at ground level, and Teresa had already climbed high once she'd gotten under cover. She held still, blending in well with the trees; she knew that they couldn't see her. And they didn't try to go after her. Perhaps they assumed she was already gone.

You would think that people who fell from the sky might think to look up more often.

From just beyond the tree line the young scout watched as Bellamy turned his attention back to the boy on the ground. He leaned in close and Teresa knew that the boy – Atom – was making the same plea that he'd made of her: To stop the pain, end his suffering…to kill him.

This was better, Teresa thought. At least now that his friends had found him he would not have to die alone.

"Head back to camp," she heard Bellamy ordered the others.

The other hunters cast dismal looks at their dying friend and did what they were told. The little girl hesitated. Getting a better look at her now, Teresa thought that the young sky-girl reminded her a bit of Tris. They were about the same age and size, though Tris had a far more hardened look to her.

Bellamy spoke to her, too quietly for Teresa to hear, and she too turned and left. And now just two were left with Atom, Bellamy and Thalia. These two were rivals – Teresa had seen how they clashed over control of their camp. But now they shared the same grief.

Bellamy held a knife in his hand. Teresa's keen eyes, the eyes of a hunter, could see the tremor in his hand as he held the knife, unsure, as if he didn't know what to do with it. He was hesitant to do what needed to be done; he did not want to end the life of one of his own…even if it was the only mercy that he could grant his friend.

Thalia suddenly tensed and drew her own knife, but then just as quickly relaxed and Teresa looked to see what had startled her. Intent on the scene before her, Teresa hadn't noticed that more people had approached. It was Clarke. Others followed behind the blonde healer, but they hung back. It seemed like many Sky-People had been out and about when the fog hit. They were lucky if Atom was the only one they lost this day.

"I heard screams," said Clarke.

"Charlotte found him. I sent her back to camp," said Bellamy.

Clarke joined them around Atom and looked him over with a healer's eye while the other's watched, waiting for her word. Clarke shook her head. She knew what Teresa knew – that there was no hope for Atom. The only one thing they could do.

Teresa watched as Clarke took the knife from Bellamy's hand. She smoothed down the hair on Atom's forehead as she brought the knife to his neck. One quick precise cut across the artery in his neck – his blood would flow quickly; it would take him only a minute or two to die. Clarke continued running her hand gently over his hair, humming to him softly while they waited for him to die.

As they waited, a small movement caught Teresa's attention. Standing hidden from the others in a spot that allowed her to see what was happening without being seen was the little sky-girl, Charlotte. Something about her held Teresa's attention. The girl had reminded her of Tris before – Tris, who was the apprentice of the chief of their village, and had seen battle at a younger age than most and had already been somewhat hardened by it. That resemblance was more pronounced now as Charlotte watched Atom's life blood bleed out of him.

The other Sky-People put together a stretched to carry their fallen friend back to their camp. They would bury him with the other's who'd died. They would take their time to grieve in whatever way the Sky-People grieved. Teresa did not move for some time as she thought over what she'd seen. It was a terrible thing to have to kill one of your own, terrible in a way that you did not find in battle. It took a different kind of strength; Teresa had already learned that from Nyko, and the lesson still weighed on her.

These Sky-People were strangers, intruders, invaders. They were not Trikru; they were not warriors. They spoke the enemy's language, had strange technology, and use weapons that were forbidden. They were unknown, which was enough to make them a threat.

But perhaps, in some ways…they were not so different.

* * *

**Translations:**

_Trikru_ \- Tree Person/ Tree People

_Skikru_ \- Sky-Person/Sky-People

_Yu gonplie ste odon _\- Your fight is over


	7. Michonne

**Note: for those who have read this chapter before, I have expanded on it so read again and please review :)**

**Author's note:** I deeply apologize for the very long wait for an update in this and my other stories. I will try to update regularly and I ask for review and comment to let me know what you think of the story and what direction it should go in.

**NB:** The flashback in this chapter in in _Italic. _The translations for the words and phrases in the grounder language can be seen in brackets and also at the bottom of the chapter.

* * *

**7\. Michonne**

Teresa looked down from her perch at the cloaked figure that was watering her horse at the edge of the stream. Her target carried a sword at her back and possibly other weapons hidden under the cloak. What was more, the older warrior was herself a weapon; bigger, stronger, more experienced. To succeed, Teresa would have to rely on surprise. Luckily she had the advantage of the trees. When she'd spotted the rider, Teresa had moved to intercept her path. She'd quickly climbed into the trees and made her way to one that overlooked the bend in the stream. Her training enabled her to make herself comfortable and invisible while she waited. She primed her body for what she was about to do, breathing in and out rhythmically. She took one last cleansing breath and released it slowly.

In position above the enemy, Teresa gripped her knife and jumped.

The cloaked figure moved suddenly, twisting out of the way of Teresa's silent attack. Teresa still managed to land on her feet in a crouch; she sprung up again in the same instant, knowing that a moment's hesitation in battle could mean death. But surprise had been lost and her adversary was ready. As Teresa attacked, the warrior lunged forward as well and managed to grab hold of her wrist in a punishing grip that was intended to make her drop the knife.

One of the first rules any young warrior learns: never drop your weapon.

Teresa gritted her teeth through the pain and held on to her knife. Instead of pulling away, she surprised her opponent by twisting in, gaining an angel that loosened the hold on her arm, then she tucked and rolled, managing to pull free, though it wretched her shoulder to do so. She didn't have time to regain her feet before she was hit; a lightning fast strike to the side of her head knocked her to the ground.

Teresa looked up at the hooded figure holding the sword over her, ready to strike and she slumped back in defeat. "I still can't surprise you."

"Not yet _strisis_." (Little sister)

The woman lowered her sword and pulled her hood back and Teresa smiled, seeing the familiar face of her eldest sister. Michonne smiled back at her, and then suddenly twisted to the side as something came at her from behind. A short scuffle later and Benjamin landed on the ground next to Teresa.

"Hello little brother," said Michonne.

"Ow," was Benjamin's response.

"You still haven't learned to mind your shadow," Michonne said critically. "I saw it before I saw you. We taught you better than that. Didn't we Lincoln?" At that last part, she looked past the twins to see Lincoln watching with an amused look on his usually stoic face.

"Apparently not," said Lincoln.

"This is your idea of a welcome?" Michonne said, nodding to the twins as they got to their feet. Lincoln chuckled. It was true, when he knew that Michonne was coming, he'd sent the twins to track her – a test of their abilities. "I thought they could learn something."

"_Nou foget chon don tich _yu_ ha throu daun _(Don't forget who taught _you_ how to fight)," said Michonne.

Lincoln laughed. He put a hand on her shoulder and touched their foreheads together, "_Mounin houm sis_ (Welcome home sister)."

Michonne's eyes darkened at the word home. These mountains did not feel like home to her; nowhere really did. But it was good to see her brothers and her sister again.

XXXXX

Michonne came bearing gifts.

Back at Lincoln's cave home, she told her siblings about her travels and showed them some of the things she'd collected along the way. Most of it she would trade for fresh supplies at the Trading Post, but some she'd saved just for them.

For Teresa, she brought a case holding samples of different coloured paints that she'd gotten while visiting the _Trishanakru_, the Glowing Forest Clan. The _Trishana_ are a peace-loving Clan that got its name from the bioluminescence that set most of their homeland aglow; the trees, the grass, the flowers, even some animals. From this natural occurrence, they were able to extract pigments that contained that iridescent quality. Teresa would have fun painting with them.

For Benjamin, Michonne brought a set of gears, wires, springs and other tools that she'd gotten from _Delfikru_, the Delphi Clan, whose territory was west of _Trikru_ lands and who was well known for being the best place to trade in whatever scraps of technology or machinery one might happen to come across. Benjamin liked figuring out how things worked; he enjoyed building, making something out of nothing; what some might see as just pieces of junk, he saw as pieces waiting to be put together. It was always interesting to see what he came up with, whether it was something with a practical use, or a just something for his own amusement.

The last thing Michonne showed them was a book, a printed book in pretty good condition – something that wasn't easy to come by. The cover showed a picture of a ship sailing on a raging sea with a large sea creature under the water. Michonne handed the book to Lincoln while the twins were busy looking over their gifts, "Give this to Senshi when you see her."

"You could just give it to her yourself next time you're near Polis," said Lincoln. Their sister Senshi – younger than the two of them, but older than the twins – was a Ranger; one of an elite unit of warriors who served the Commander and were stationed near the Capitol.

"_No taim yu swima op ona rein Linkon_ (Don't waste your time Lincoln)," said Michonne.

Lincoln sighed. Michonne and Senshi had little contact with each other these days; the tension between had been building for years and was past the point where he thought he could intervene. Senshi strongly disapproved of Michonne's wondering ways, feeling that it wasn't right for a warrior to show such disregard for _Krunes_, their Clan's lifestyle. And Michonne…she hadn't always been like this; there was a time when she'd loved Senshi more than anyone else. She still did, of course, in her own way. Their resentments towards each other were not enough to destroy their bond completely. Their familial concern went far enough that Michonne thought of Senshi when she came across something on her travels that her sister would like, just as Senshi asked Lincoln for news of Michonne's wellbeing whenever she visited home.

"_Haukom yu kamp raun hir Michonne__?_ (Why are you here Michonne?)" Lincoln finally asked as they sat by the fire, just the two of them.

"Is it not enough that I missed my family?" Michonne said dryly.

Lincoln half smiled, "No."

Michonne gave a half smile in return. Though they were a couple years different in age, they looked as much alike as the twins did. "Good. I'd consider you a fool if you believed that." She looked at him shrewdly. "And you are no fool brother."

"You heard about the Sky-People," said Lincoln. It was a statement, not a question; he figured that was what drew Michonne back to their mountains.

"Word travels," his sister confirmed. "There are rumors at every trading post from here to the Dead Zone."

Lincoln could imagine the speculation that was running rampant, not just among the Woods Clan, but among all the Clans that word of the Sky-People had spread to. For all anyone knew, this group that was sent down could be anything from castaways exiled from their home in the sky to the first of an invasion into Trikru territory sent to test the waters. Orders had come from the Commander that all were to steer clear of the ship while they observed and gathered intel on the strangers. It was lucky then that the ship had landed in an area that was not widely traveled, as near as it was to the Mountain Men.

Michonne leaned forward and looked at her brother intently. She and her siblings all shared the same dark brown eyes, and right now, hers appeared so dark that they seemed almost black. That darkness came not only from the dim light or the intensity of her gaze, but also from the memories that hung over them like a veil. There was little those eyes did not see.

"Is it the same?" she asked.

Lincoln nodded, understanding what she was asking; it was the same question he'd been asking himself since he first saw the ship falling from the sky. The Sky-People's ship, they'd seen something like it before…

XXX

**_Flashback: Michonne &amp; Lincoln's childhood_**

Steady as the beating drum, singing to the cedar flute

Seasons go and seasons come. Bring the corn and bear the fruit

_._

_Lincoln gasped as his foot slipped from the tree trunk on a bit of wet moss, leaving him dangling by his hands for a moment before he got his footing again._

_"Ai ste mou snap _(I am faster)_," Michonne teased her younger brother as she pulled her way further up the tree. _

_Lincoln hurried to catch up to his sister. The ground was already a long way down, but neither of them was concerned, nor were any of the other children scrambling through the trees in the orchard. It was harvest time, and the children of the village had been sent to gather the ripe fruits. The sweetest of the fruits grew at the very tops of the trees where the branches were too thin to hold more than the weight of a child. A few adults watched over them from the ground, or midway up the trees to keep the children focused on work rather than playing at who could climb fastest or jump farthest from one branch to the next. When the work was done and the children had filled the sacks that they'd brought with them, then they could play before it was time to return home._

_._

By the waters sweet and clean where the mighty sturgeon lives

Plant the squash and reap the bean, all the Earth our mother gives

_._

_Michonne reached her goal and settled herself on one of the boughs that sagged under the weight of the long, green oblong pods that held the fruit inside. She stretched her hands to the nearest of the pods, being careful of the prickly leaves that grew around them, and plucked one. With expert movements she began peeling away the outer layer revealing the bright pink seeds. She held the fruit close to her nose and inhaled, and smiled when she didn't scent any rot. This batch was good, ready for harvesting._

_"Yu pul emo op kom tri _(You pull them from the tree)_," Michonne said to Lincoln who had caught up with her at last. _

_Her brother nodded and slipped past her, climbing nearly to the edge of the branch where most of the pods dangled temptingly. He straddled the branch, using his legs to hold on so that both hands were free to snap off the pods and toss them back to Michonne. They quickly filled up their bags. When their task was done and the bags they carried were full Michonne used the rope she had wrapped around her waist to lower the heavy sacks to the ground._

_._

O Great Spirit, hear our song. Help us keep the ancient ways

Keep the sacred fire strong. Walk in balance all our days

_._

_Their task was done. And there was still a little time to play._

_The brother and sister decided to race each other to the very top of the tree where they would be able to see over the canopy. Their usual friendly teasing was lost as they had to concentrate to keep their hold when the branches grew thinner and swayed under their weight as they drew near the top. But it was worth it when they got there. From up here they could see over the tree tops; the meadow stretched out below and provided a stunning contrast to the hazy purple outlines of the mountains in the distance._

_They only had a few minutes to enjoy it before the call went out for all of the children to come down. The sun was going down. It was time to head for home. They would be back out harvesting again tomorrow. _

_._

_Seasons go and seasons come, Steady as the beating drum_

_Plum to seed to bud to plum, Steady as the beating drum_

_._

_Michonne started climbing down first. _

_Lincoln looked out from his perch while he let Michonne go on ahead of him. He liked being up there where the land was spread out beneath him. To one side he could see a corner of the lake gleaming in the valley below. To the other side he saw the outline of the forbidden Mountain far off in the distance, the home of the Mountain Men._

_"Linkon," his sister called up to him from below._

_He was about to answer when something else caught his eye…something falling. Lincoln squinted against the glare of the sun. What was that, a shooting star? No, shooting stars did not come that close! The thing fell towards the west, the sinking sun making it difficult to see its path, but Lincoln watched as it came down. He thought he saw the tops of the trees shake where the thing hit the ground. _

_"Bro, hos op! _(Brother, hurry up!)"_ Michonne called again._

_Lincoln looked again to the place where the strange object looked to have landed, where a thin trail of smoke curled up from the trees, and he marked the place in his mind so that he was sure he could find it later. He wanted to know what it was._

_After a last glance at the wisp of smoke that was rising up in the distance, Lincoln began to climb down. He wanted to tell Michonne about it but she didn't wait for him when he reached her. Michonne winked, and then slipped off the branch, letting herself fall. She caught onto another branch and repeated the move, falling a few feet each time and catching branches on her way down. Her decent was a skillfully controlled fall, until she let go of the last branch and lander nimbly on her feet on the ground below._

_Mother would be furious if she saw her do that._

_Lincoln did not try to speak to her, to tell her about the thing that he saw fall from the sky when they were both on the ground with the other children gathering up all the bags of fruit that they'd picked. He didn't want anyone else to hear. Whatever that thing was, he wanted to keep it a secret until he saw it for himself. He would tell Michonne about it when they were alone and they could both go looking for it together._

_They did everything together._

XX

_Senshi sat beside her big sister watching as Michonne showed her how to peel back the rough skin of the fruit. She took one and tried to copy what Michonne did, but Senshi's hands were smaller and not as strong, and the edges of the rough leaves scratched her soft palms when she tried to pull it back. Michonne laughed, not unkindly, as her small sister scowled at the cut on her hand. Senshi needed to toughen up and not let every little thing bother her. Michonne and Lincoln would both begin training to be warriors soon, and Senshi would too when she was big enough. And as their father said, a warrior's life was not for the weak._

_Still, for now, Senshi was just a child. Michonne took the fruit back and peeled it for her and then held it out to Senshi. The little girl turned her scowl to the offending fruit, like it had cut her on purpose, and then turned her nose up at it._

_"Choj em op ou ai na choj em op _(Eat it or I will eat it)_," Michonne teased her. _

_Senshi, with the logic of a child, decided that if her big sister wanted it, then so did she. She took the fruit form Michonne's hand and took a bite. Her small face broke into a huge grin as the sweet flavor spread over her tongue. Michonne laughed again – she liked seeing her sister smile._

_Michonne sat with her sister and brother and some of the other children in their village, sorting through sacks of the fruit that they'd picked. The pods of fruit were peeled and sorted into the two baskets: one basket was for the red ones which grew sweet, and one was for the blue which were really spicy when they were cooked over the fire. Tomorrow, they would harvest and sort the fruit again. Some would be dried and stored for winter and some would be packed up to trade._

_Lincoln seemed distracted the whole time they worked and even later as they made their way to their own hut, he kept looking off towards the village gates. Michonne knew that look; that look usually meant that he was up to something that might get him into trouble. Finally she nudged him and asked what was wrong. After looking around to make sure no one was paying attention to them, he told Michonne about what he had seen from the trees, the thing that fell from the sky, speaking quietly so that they would not be overheard._

_"Chit em bilaik? _(What is it?)_" Michonne asked when he was finished._

_Lincoln shook his head, he didn't know. "Yumi beda gon der en hon em op _(You and me should go there and find it)_."_

_Michonne shook her head. Father would be angry if he found out. But she could see that her brother was ready to go off on his own anyway. So she sighed and said, "Oso na set raun na kom sheidgeda en gon ogeda _(We will wait until night and go together)_." _

_Lincoln smiled at her and she smiled back. She was curious to find this thing from the sky too. It would be fun, as long as they did not get caught. Her smile was cut off when she saw someone coming out of their hut: Nyko, the healer's apprentice, and his mentor. _

_"Nontu don konge osir fisa _(Father summoned our healer)_," Michonne said worriedly._

_The healer had been visiting their hut almost every day to check on mother. Mother was healthy when she had Senshi, but the new baby was making her tired a lot. She barely left the hut these days._

_Nyko smiled tentatively at Michonne as he passed, but his smile did not mask his worry._

_Seeing the children drawing near, father and the healer switched to speaking Gonasleng _(English)_. Father did not want them to know yet what the healer had to say. Lincoln hated it when they spoke they enemy's language. But he was too caught up in the mystery of what fell from the sky to be bothered with grown-up concerns. Tonight, he and Michonne would go and see that thing for themselves._

_._

**Translations**

_Strisis_ – Little sister

_Nou foget chon don tich _yu_ ha throu daun _– Don't forget who taught _you_ how to fight

_Mounin houm sis_ – Welcome home sister

_Trishana/Trishanakru_ – Glowing Forest Clan

_Delfikru_ – Delphi Clan

_Trikru_ – Woods Clan

_No taim yu swima op ona rein Linkon_ – Don't waste your time Lincoln

_Haukom yu kamp raun hir Michonne__?_ – Why are you here Michonne?

_Ai ste mou snap_ – I am faster

_Yu pul emo op kom tri_ – You pull them from the tree

_Bro, hos op! – _Brother, hurry up!

_Choj em op ou ai na choj em op – _Eat it or I will eat it

_Chit em bilaik? – _What is it?

_"Yumi beda gon der en hon em op – _You and me should go there and find it

_Oso na set raun na kom sheidgeda en gon ogeda – _We will wait until night and go together

_Nontu don konge osir fisa – _Father summoned our healer

_Gonasleng_ – the enemy's language; English

_Trigedasleng_ – Grounder Language

XXXXX

* * *

**Author's note:** I will try to update this story regularly. Please comment and review as reviews inspire updates. Please also take a look at my other stories.

Other stories that I have begun, for The 100 as well as other books/movies, include:

\- 'The 100 Arrival Day', to which this story is a companion

\- 'The Queen Of Beasts' based on the 2012 TV Series Beauty and the Beast

\- 'The New Beginning Of Bree Cullen' based on the Twilight Saga, telling the continued story of young vampire Bree is she'd lived after Eclipse

\- 'The Making Of The Marauders' based on the Harry Potter series, telling the story of when the four Marauders (James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin &amp; Peter Petigrew) were in school

The song lyrics in this chapter are from 'Steady As The Beating Drum' from the movie Pocahontas


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